1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to an aspiration apparatus and more specifically to an aspiration apparatus for spinal applications.
2. Description of the Related Art
Bone marrow is often used in orthodpaedic procedures to augment fracture healing. It is also an excellent source of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC's) and/or tissue progenitor cells (TPC's). These multi-potent cells have broad applications in addition to orthopaedics and may be used in the fields of cardiology, oncology and other areas. As new techniques are being developed to use these cells and to culture them ex-vivo it has become increasingly important to be able to procure large volumes of highly cellular marrow from the body.
At present, the pelvis is the source for almost all of the marrow that is used for mesenchymal stem cells. Obtaining marrow from the pelvis, however, can be difficult and may present risks to the abdominal cavity, especially when obesity obscures normal landmarks. Additionally, patients undergoing lower extremity procedures such as ankle or tibia fractures often do not have the pelvis readily accessible for sterile bone marrow access. As a result, it is desirable to have the flexibility to harvest marrow from alternative locations.
A further problem is that the aspiration of more than approximately two to four cubic centimeters of marrow in one area has been shown to result in the subsequent withdrawal of local “venous blood” as opposed to marrow and therefore significantly deceases the MSC/TPC count. This requires the frequent relocating of the needle within a given access point into the bone in order to avoid overlapping areas that have already been “tapped out” of marrow. Each additional relocation, however, creates an additional risk for the patient.
The spinal vertebra can also be a source of marrow, but the collection of marrow from the vertebral body has been complicated by the varying structure of the pedicle, the adjacent neural structures and a lack of suitable instruments that can readily access the vertebral body through the pedicle pathway and aspirate a substantial amount of bone marrow without multiple relocations. Current aspiration devices that use traditional needles with a single aperture or multiple parallel radially aligned apertures are limited in the amount of marrow that can be taken before over harvesting and the drawing of substantially venous blood. Relocating the needle within the vertebra, even using the same pedicle pathway, can still result in over harvesting and increases the risk to the patient.
A specialized apparatus is needed for the harvesting of marrow from a vertebra that can readily penetrate through the pedicle pathway and has an arrangement of apertures that are aligned for the harvesting of approximately half of the marrow of a vertebra from a single location without relocating the apparatus.